Travel: Cumberland Gap filled with history, mountain vistas

Friday

Apr 28, 2017 at 11:10 AMApr 28, 2017 at 11:21 AM

Steve Stephens More Content Now

CUMBERLAND GAP, Tennessee -- Following the Wilderness Road into Kentucky was once a life-altering trek.

Now the trip is a pleasant morning or afternoon walk for visitors who want to tread in the footsteps of Daniel Boone and see the famous gap where thousands of settlers and pioneers entered the American “West.”

Shortly after the American Revolution, those pioneers began to pass into the Ohio Valley via a small opening through the long, high ridge of the Cumberland Mountains, a path blazed by Boone.

The Cumberland Gap was later crossed by railroads and one of the nation’s first paved highways. But that dangerous road was rerouted in the 1990s through a tunnel under the gap.

Visitors to the Cumberland Gap today will see it very much as it was in the late 18th century, only with fewer buffalo -- and better footing.

A well-maintained hiking trail passes through the gap, linking the little town of Cumberland Gap on the south in Tennessee to the main Visitor Center at Cumberland Gap National Historical Park to the north in Kentucky.

Whether arriving at the park on foot or bicycle or by car, visitors will find exhibits about the history of the region and the legacy of the thousands who made the trek to what was then a vast wilderness. The visitor center also marks the beginning of a narrow paved road that climbs the ridge along a series of hairpin turns, ending at the Pinnacle Overlook at an elevation of 2,440 feet, 850 feet above the gap.

The overlook provides a magnificent view of the gap and of the surrounding countryside, including Tri-State Peak, where Kentucky, Virginia and Tennessee meet. From the overlook, visitors also can look almost directly down into the town of Cumberland Gap, 1,100 feet below -- and, as it turns out, into the guest room where I was staying.

My lodgings were in the historic Olde Mill Inn in Cumberland Gap, a town as cute as a gingham pinafore and a great place to stay while exploring.

I was in the appropriately named Pinnacle Room, and from my window I could look up and just make out the tiny figures of people looking down from Pinnacle Overlook, where I had stood just an hour before.

My inn was also just steps from the Iron Furnace Trailhead, leading to the Wilderness Road Trail and the gap. The 24,000-acre national park contains more than 85 miles of hiking trails. But from the trailhead, the gap itself is just a mile away.

Just walking through the parking lot, I passed from Tennessee into Virginia. After a fairly easy but uphill mile, I came to the “saddle of the gap” and the Kentucky line. From there, hikers can continue down the backside of the gap less than 2 miles to the national park’s visitor center, take a 0.6-mile detour to Tri-State Peak and a monument where the three states meet, or head northwest along the ridge line to the ruins of Civil War era Forts McCook and Lyon and toward Pinnacle Overlook.

I chose to declare victory, turn around and seek sustenance in town -- far easier to do now than in Boone’s day.

Visitors to the town of Cumberland Gap have several dining options in the quaint old downtown, including a couple of excellent coffeehouses and Angelo’s, a good Italian place with huge portions and great happy-hour drink prices. (There are also plenty of places to eat and stay in the town of Middlesboro, Kentucky, just north of the national park.)

In Cumberland Gap, visitors will also find the tiny Little Congress Bicycle Museum, housed in a historic downtown building. It’s a labor of love founded by a local judge who is also a historian and bike collector.

Just east of town is the Daniel Boone Visitor Center and another trailhead. It’s also the place where park visitors meet for a short hike to Gap Cave, where guided tours are offered from May through September.A decorative gateway marks the entrance to the Wilderness Road Trail there, surrounded by metal, life-size cutouts of figures representing early settlers and their animals. Speakers in the ceiling of the gateway play the sounds of wagons, horses and livestock moving along the trail.

Stepping off toward the Gap again, it was easy to imagine that I was setting off to parts unknown, especially knowing that a cold drink and a big plate of pasta was waiting for me in town when I was done playing pioneer.

-- Steve Stephens can be reached at ssstephens@dispatch.com or on Twitter @SteveStephens.